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Joe Biden Criticizes Turkey’s Crackdown on Free Speech

NNA – Vice President Joe Biden sharply criticized Turkey’s intensifying crackdown on political dissidents, journalists and academics, saying Friday that it is impeding the country’s success.

Mr. Biden, in his first public event since arriving in Istanbul on Thursday night, said Turkey was setting a poor example for the rest of the region by suppressing freedom of expression.

“If you do not have the ability to express your own opinions, to criticize policy, to offer competing ideas without fear of intimidation or retribution, then your country is being robbed of opportunity, your country is being robbed of possibilities, your country is being put in a column that makes it a great deal more difficult to achieve success,” Mr. Biden said at the start of a meeting with a small group of Turkish journalists, including critics who have been fired or harassed for their writing.

“We want to see Turkey set an example for the region,” Mr. Biden said. “I hope there is a change of attitude here.”

“I want to make it clear, as a person who’s been subject to the scrutiny of the press for my whole adult life,” he said, before asking reporters covering his visit to leave the room so he and his team could meet privately with the Turkish journalists. “Some of you are stupid. Some of you are brilliant. Some of you are right. Some of you are wrong. Some of you are venal. Some of you are noble. But the freedom of the press is where my own freedom lies, and everyone else’s.”

The comments came on the eve of Mr. Biden’s meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the difficult fight against Islamic State.

“There are a lot of front-burner national security questions where Turkey is at the heart of our ability to get things done,” a senior administration official said.

While the fight against Islamic State is paramount, the White House is growing increasingly alarmed by the Turkish government’s treatment of critics.

Turkey ranks at the bottom of countries for freedom of the press and Mr. Erdogan has championed efforts to prosecute lawmakers, professors and journalists who have spoken out against his policies.

Officials with Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Davutoglu didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Mr. Biden’s remarks.

Before the meeting, Mr. Biden met with the wife and son of Can Dundar, the imprisoned editor in chief of Turkey’s oldest daily newspaper who is facing life in prison for espionage charges for publishing an article implicating Turkish intelligence in sending arms to Syrian militants.

Last week, Mr. Erdogan backed the prosecution of more than 1,100 academicians who denounced Turkey’s ongoing military crackdown against Kurdish militants. Turkish prosecutors launched investigations of more than a dozen people who signed the list. Others have been fired from their posts, disciplined or intimidated for speaking out.

Mr. Biden vehemently defended the U.S. ambassador in Turkey, John Bass, who has come under fire from Ankara for publicly supporting the academics.

Mr. Biden said Mr. Bass speaks for President Barack Obama and has the White House’s full support.–WallStreetJournal

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